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A funeral director took to Reddit to advise people that a boss shouldn't get to see a death certificate for a worker to take a leave of bereavement, slamming bosses who try to make employees bring them in.
The viral Reddit post, titled, "Your boss should never get to see a death certificate for you to take bereavement leave," has been upvoted 14,600 times since it was shared to the platform's "Antiwork" forum on March 3.
The original poster (OP), u/marion_mcstuff, revealed they are a funeral director in Ontario, Canada, and the situation has begun coming up more frequently, "p**sing" them off.
The Redditor revealed: "After meeting with a family to arrange a funeral, the family asks me if they can have an extra death certificate for their son/daughter/grandchild because their boss is asking for one to give them time off to attend the funeral."
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) doesn't require any payment for time that isn't worked, including for attending a funeral. It's a situation handled between an employer and the employee.
Employmentlawhandbook.com reported that only Oregon has a law on the books requiring employers to give bereavement leave. The other states as well as Washington, D.C., don't require employers to give leave for bereavement.
The OP said a death certificate is legal paperwork used for things like closing bank accounts and applying for pensions. It has private information about the deceased individual, which is information a boss "has no right seeing."
The Redditor added that they always write and sign a letter on official letterhead revealing that the person is deceased, mentioning it can be confirmed by the obituary on the website as well as in the newspaper.
The funeral director didn't mince words. "And also f**k anyone who tries to make their employee bring in a piece of official legal paperwork to go to their f**king Nana's funeral," they said.
The OP advised: "If a boss ever asks you for a death certificate to get bereavement leave, tell them they can have a signed letter from the funeral director at maximum, but maybe also just read the f**king obit for free on the funeral home website."
Over 400 comments were shared over a few hours with several people praising the funeral director while others recounted their own stories.
One person admitted they are "glad" the OP posted the information, adding, "It's frankly obscene that employers feel comfortable demanding this of grieving workers."
Other words of appreciation included comments like, "You are a decent director, keep reporting this," and "Great post. Thank you for sharing."
Another Redditor revealed how they'd respond to their employer in the situation. "'You ain't getting it.' Death stare. The end." they said. The OP replied back saying, "Yes! I try to tell anyone who asks me for this to tell their boss it ain't happening."
Some people relayed their own stories with similar types of situations when a loved one died. A user revealed they were "b**ched at" by their boss "for not coming into work for the afternoon after attending my uncle's funeral in the morning. I didn't stick around there much longer after that."
Another Redditor said their former boss asked them for a death certificate when they took leave when their grandmother died. "He didn't say it directly, but strongly implied that he thought I was lying to get a few days off," they said. "It was all I could do to keep from punching his head in."
Numerous people said they had been asked for a death certificate before. "Had this happen a few times here in the states," a Reddit user revealed. "A couple of times it was professors at college who didn't believe me, others were employers."
However, a user said many people "have used the dead relative as an excuse to get out of work. As much as this sucks, it's on the coworkers for creating this problem."
Newsweek reached out to u/marion_mcstuff for comment.
